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Salsa Verde

A tomato and green chili salsa with onion, garlic, and cumin, simmered until thickened.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Salsa Verde

Timeabout 20 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. In a medium pan, heat oil over medium heat.

  2. Add onion and cook until softened but not browned, 2 to 3 minutes.

  3. Stir in flour until well blended and cook 1 minute longer.

  4. Add tomatoes with their juice, chiles, garlic, salt and cumin.

  5. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce is thickened, about 20 minutes.

Cool and store

  1. Let cool before serving.

  2. Store in refrigerator up to 3 days, or freeze.

  3. Serve at room temperature.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

659Calories
16 gProtein
16 gFat
113 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,539 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Garlic + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,082 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,665 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Tomato + cumintop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,272 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour
Thickens the sauce as it cooks, giving it a smoother, thicker body.
Whole tomatoes
Provide the main liquid and body of the sauce, along with acidity and flavor.
Onion
Softens during cooking to add savory sweetness and depth of flavor.
Green chilies
Add heat and a fresh, green pepper flavor to the sauce.

The step that matters

Simmer until thickened. Flour needs enough time at a simmer to cook out its raw taste and to thicken the sauce fully. Stirring occasionally helps prevent scorching on the bottom of the pan.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, onion, flour, tomato, garlic, cumin):

  1. Oreganofits better
  2. Turmericfits better
  3. Corianderfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, onion, flour, tomato, garlic, cumin. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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